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Our final day in Salta we took a tour up to Cafayate in the nature reserve that neither of us can remember the name of. The scenery was absolutely stunning and so very varied that there was no time to get bored. Got there and were taken to a wine producer to taste their wares. Then back again stopping for regular photo shoots in some incredible works of nature. Saw parrots in the wild in their homes in holes in the cliff faces and man, can they fight!!!!! We were treated to a lunch in a local restaurant and I decided to go local. Had the goat stew and a dessert I really would not miss if I never tasted it again. Graeme as usual, stuck to what he knew. No great shakes about our lunch. Walked through the town square for a while and then continued home. We had managed to build a really nice chatty relationship with our hostess by this time with the wonderful instrument - Google translate and when we couldn't make ourselves understood verbally, we simply typed what we wanted to say. She cooked us a delicious meal for our last night with her and organised a taxi to fetch us in the morning for our bus trip to Bolivia.
We left Salta at 7am Monday morning. We were going to take the 12pm bus on Sunday to give us good time to cross the border and catch the train I had booked back in SA at 3.30pm. Since it would be better to sleep with our couch surfer than on the bus, we changed our plans after being assured by Balut Bus Company that we would get there at 2pm. They didn't tell us there is a 1 hour time difference between Argentina and Bolivia! The bus wasn't bad and the trip pleasant enough but seemed to be delayed as we only got there at 3pm. (actually it WAS 2pm!). Caught a shuttle to the border to find about 30 people standing in a queue at a tiny office window in the hot sun! So we stood for 45 minutes waiting to get to the window. Got our stamps and headed thru only to find we had to turn around from the Bolivian side for another 40 minutes. By now we were really frustrated as we had missed our train ( so we thought) and so Kathy filled in all the paper work while I looked after our kit, running backwards and forwards to her with info she needed for the forms. Now when we left SA I made sure we didn't need a visa for ANY country in South America- I checked it on the SA foreign affair website as well as many others. Now this guy (unfortunately Kathy was there so he decided he could get away with it) tells her she needs a visa and she must pay $110 in bolivianos! We hadn't changed any money yet so with me shouting to Kathy that we don't need a visa and time ticking by (by now we learned it was 3.15 pm, so we could still maybe make our train) it fell on deaf ears and the official insisted on us paying the money. Those who know me know just how much I love injustice and being ripped off so, spitting mad I ran up the street looking for cambrio (exchange) for our dollars! Ran back, paid the guy who laboriously filled in more stuff and by now it was 3.25pm).
FINALLY we got our passports and went chasing up the street with all our kit on our backs in sweltering heat until we realized the train station was still about 6 blocks away! Kathy hailed a taxi and we jumped in and kept telling the driver trein, trein! And he was trying to tell us, "no trein, trein gone" but of course all in Spanish! Well we got to station and the office confirmed what the driver had been shouting for 3 minutes. We HAD missed our train. Ok, not great - just threw another few hundred bolivianos away (plus the visa, remember) so we'll catch the bus. Back to bus station (more like one of our taxi ranks - disgustingly dirty and chaotic - like all things in Bolivia we have discovered, not 3rd world, 5th world!!) and we found a bus leaving at 4pm. No sweat, let's take it. Well, what a trip. The bus itself made our Putco buses look luxury for starters! Lights hanging by a wire, windows taped up, panels missing and everything loose. Seats were not bad- it was once a luxury bus so it still had good seats, but just filthy! So we are hurtling along on a tarred road to a place called Tupizo which is two hours away. Country side was stunning but we were bouncing around too much to take photos and frankly you couldn't see thru the windows with all the dirt and tape etc! Arrived at Tupiza rather shaken and wondering what on earth we had done. Little did we know what was to come. Suffice to say- and Amber can bear us out as she did the same trip- it was the most terrifying bus rides of my life. The noise levels in the bus were horrendous, the bouncing around was displacing nearly every organ in my body and the treacherous road condition was something else. The driver, to his credit, was phenomenal, yet believed speed was the better policy for negotiating these tight bends and ruts in the road. Looking over the edge out the window was not a good idea-cliffs on either side with huge canyons was our fate should we take one wrong turn. My prayer life improved in those 6 hours like you can't believe! How we got to Uyuni the Lord only knows, but when we did, at 1 am in the morning, my head was pumping and my adrenalin levels were sky high! Man, what a trip. We took a taxi literally a few blocks to our hotel which was such a refreshing close to what had been a terrible ordeal- but certainly memory making! One just had to be fatalistic and say if your time had come so be it!
The folk at the desk in our hostel were so friendly, yes- couldn't speak a word of English so we spent 20 minutes writing using the translation app on my phone and finally got our room, had an amazing shower and fell into bed exhausted. What a day, what an experience- but all part of the adventure I guess. Although, that said, some things could be happily left out of our adventure, some of them happened in our tour to the salar - the salt flats, that I had booked in Salta as I knew we would get in late Monday and have no time to organize it on Tuesday morning as I thought the tours all started early. As it turns out, trying to arrange it from Salta was another mistake. When I went to the operator this agent had recommended here, it was shabby office and I was told there would be no English guide, if we wanted one that would be another $100. I was not happy because I had specifically booked the two day trip with an English guide already put down the deposit. Well, for the next hour we tried to find another operator but they were either full or extremely expensive - one had space for one but that would have been $400 which we couldn't afford, besides, we are two! So we bit the bullet, stayed with this crowd who now had found a friend who would do the tour and he was a local who could speak 5 languages! So we were ready to go out in the land cruiser at 10:30. It was supposed to be a 2 day tour with food, accommodation on night 1 and everything paid for. The actual beauty of the salar was amazing - God' amazing creation is free and stunning and never disappoints. Kathy will tell you about some of those amazing sights, as well as the not so amazing experiences we had with this dodgy tour operator.
- comments
Amber-Rose I tried rating it but it only allowed for 1 star :( Epic guys!! My favorite part of travelling must be all these unforeseen adventures. The key is to embrace the culture and keep your cool! Love u both
Jonathan Gotta just take it as it unveils itself. That's why it's called an adventure holiday as opposed to cruising around a first world country. You'll remember this one MORE than any other. That's guaranteed.